Denied - 99. Chapter 99

Danie stood beside the window. He was watching Chomper, and I could practically hear his brain cells frying. “What?” I asked.

He blinked several times. “Your question doesn’t make a lot of sense. What what?”

I had to hide a smile. His question didn’t make a lot of sense either, and I didn’t know if he even realized it because he was too busy watching Chomper. “You’re looking at him like he’s about to maul you, and you’re not sure if that means deadly injury or not.” Wary, a faint wrinkle to his nose, his body tense with muscles flexed but his hands loose at his sides so he didn’t seem like a threat.

“We have been assessing the data shared about him. He is quite dangerous.” Danie blinked again, his brow wrinkled. “I do not think he will maul me, however, because humans are his family. I think any bipedal species close enough to your form, our form, would be safe, but that is not why I was watching him.”

“No?” I sat down, and Chomper left the flexible tube he’d been rolling around in and came to me, crawling up into my lap. He spilled over it, even in his smaller form. He was happy, though, his blue skin darkened as he hummed, his arms stroking me as he snuggled in. Chomper put his head on my shoulder and sighed, a hot breath tickling the hair on my neck.

I’d thought a being who could generate fire would be hot inside, but he wasn’t. He sought out heat, especially in the cold of space, and I found myself holding him more often than not. “So why are you watching him?”

“The thing Lakshou could do, with his empathy. I think it has to do with auras. If I adjust my settings, I can see some beings’ auras too.”

Why wasn’t I surprised? Still, I shivered. I didn’t like to think about what Lakshou had been doing to me when I’d meditated with him. Chomper’s wings rustled and he crooned, a high-pitched warble. I patted his back, then ran my hand down it, taking turns rotating round firm bases of his wings and smoothing the muscles that were oddly shaped around the mobile joints allowing him two or move positions. He loved those scratched gently.

“See, right now you’re afraid. I know because your aura flashed, then his flashed another color—a complementary color, I’ll have you know—and then he soothed you.”

“How?” I asked slowly. “And how did you see all that?” I tried to listen and understand everything Danie told me. My fingers twitched, and I longed for the ability to write notes. But Captain insisted on no evidence. He disliked Aparoe keeping logs even.

“Magic? Science I don’t even know to explain. For all the processing power they gave me, I cannot know it all.” Danie scowled. “Freska says that proves I’m human.”

I leaned back, Chomper’s breath tickling my skin as she slid from my shoulder to nestle against my chest. “She would.” She was probably the least alien of all the alien beings I’d met.

“But what does this have to do with me and Chomper? Or Lakshou?” I still had the urge to rinse out my mouth after I spat out his name.

“He used your aura against you, training you in ways that would make you vulnerable to him. Now imagine he could see you, see it, and see your connection to him.” Danie cast a significant look at Chomper. “Imagine what they’d do to him.”

It took everything in me to resist the urge to snatch Chomper tight to my chest and glare at Danie for even suggesting anyone would ever hurt him. “I’d never let that happen. Never!” My voice rose and I realized I’d shouted both of those last thoughts out loud, not silently like I’d thought. Chomper woke with a whimper, immediately rolling and shifting. His claws dug into my skin, but I ignored the pricks and welling blood.

“Calm,” Danie said. He eyed me warily. “I don’t know if he’s more and more like you, or if you’re becoming more like him.”

I bared my teeth at him. “Guess.”

“No thanks.”

Chomper climbed off my lap and hissed at Danie, and then he turned and butted his head against my stomach. “Okay. Fine fine. All safe.”

“Yes. You’re safe.”

“You’re safe,” he mimicked. He bared far more impressive teeth than mine. A burst of heat burped out of him.

“Not if you cook me. No fire on the ship,” I scolded him.

“No fire.” He closed his mouth, rubbing his head against my stomach again. I sighed, looking at Danie. “I don’t know what you mean by auras, or exactly what Lakshou did to me. My hope is Captain gets us close and then blows his ship up.” He probably wouldn’t, just in case there were innocents on board, but I could dream.

“Still, there may be something I can do to figure out a way to shield your connection. It’s emotional, yes, but also tangible so it’s not just a metaphysical bond. If I’m outside of you, but I can see it, and Lakshou could manipulate it, then we should be able to protect it as well.”

“Okay, okay. Just… try staring a little less.” We only had about half a shift left before we caught up to the ship. Danie would have to think fast if he wanted to figure out some sort of miracle cure to what Lakshou could do to us.

The ship rocked, and Chomper’s wings flared out and he sprang into the air, hovering. The floor bucked and rolled under our chairs and feet. I held on for dear life. “What’s happening?” I shouted.

Danie shook his head. “I don’t know.”

A ship-wide announcement rang through the comm. “Did you really think we wouldn’t find you?”

That voice....